XMen : Generations
by Character
Summary: Sarah works in a library. If she is honest with herself, it isn't much of a life. The same old routine, every day, for years on end, can numb anyone to existence. Things change.
1. Familiar Faces

DISCLAIMER – I do not own X-Men, the film rights or anything else, and am most certainly not making a profit out of them.

NOTES – _Italics on the majority of occasions are thoughts_

Work again. Same old story every day, fall out of bed late, shower late, eat late, miraculously arrive at work on time. Sarah had been grudgingly working at the library for some time now, and the routine-ness of everything was beginning to get on her nerves. Sure books were fine, but the people who read them were so ordinary, old women who came in every Thursday to pick up a large print romance novel, young kids picking up the third in a series of books they'd already read twice before, the old man in the wheelchair who appeared just before closing time on a Monday to pick up a couple of science journals. No one ever borrowed anything she didn't expect.

"Excuse me."

The young woman at the desk didn't seem to hear him; her eyes were focused on something just to his left. Turning slightly the man saw what it was she was so intently focused on - the clock. He put his books down on the desk, slightly peeved at her lack of a response. -Now then- he thought, -how to best deal with this then-

"Miss Evelyn Sarah Monaghan!" , the voice that brought her back from her daydream was a scolding one, and the face that belonged to it did not look amused. A man who could have been anything from fifty to sixty five pushed his glasses up his nose and jerked his head towards the pile of books lying on the desk. Slowly she reached out for the books, forcing an apology that sounded almost sincere. Taking the man's library card she suddenly realised with some relief how he knew her name - stupid manager and her name tags. Still that didn't explain how he knew that Evelyn was her actual first name, not Sarah as it said on the tag, maybe the guy just hadn't seen through his glasses or something. Realising she had nearly drifted off again she quickly checked out the books. She handed them back to the man, who himself was looking a bit distracted. Turning to see what he was looking at through the window behind her, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, just one of the usual suspects on his way to pick up a science journal or two. The computer beeped angrily from the corner. Wandering over to it she saw that Mr. Eric Lehnsherr owed the library a couple of late return fines.

"Excuse me, but you have a couple of fines for previous books Mr. Lehnsherr."

He seemed to gradually draw his gaze away from the window and back towards me, "What would they be for" he muttered, almost to himself.

She read the titles off the screen, "Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Memoirs of a Geisha"

"Ah yes, not very good that last one"

"No, I wasn't to impressed with it either, the other two are very good though."

Lehnsherr seemed to warm to the conversation, "I wouldn't have had you down for a gothic fiction reader Miss Monaghan."

"No? I would have guessed you were more of crime novel person yourself, I'm usually right."

He grinned, once more pushing his glasses up his nose, squinting through them a little he dug in one of the pockets of his overcoat, producing some coins.

"That should cover it, thank you for waking up."

And with that, he was gone.

"Afternoon Professor, nice and early as per usual"

"As per usual Sarah, my most sincere apologies for keeping you at work for another few minutes."

The man in the wheelchair smiled, he was always at it, too pleasant person for someone stuck in a wheelchair, especially as he was bald as well.

The Professor laughed as Sarah held open the door for him, "I'll see you next week then" she called to his retreating back, "Who knows, maybe a bit earlier Sarah" he replied, quickly she shut the door behind him. "I should bloody well hope so" she muttered, quickly grabbing her jacket from the backroom and locking up for the night.


	2. A Night's Rain

"Oh come on, why the hell doesn't the key work!?" Jamming it in the door again, Sarah twisted the key as hard as she could, the rain battering down on her, as it had done for her whole journey home. Motorbikes were just not the best thing for the rain, as soon as Sarah's foot had hit the pedal the rain had started. The journey had been a slow one, if she had been in a better mood she would have left the bike and taken a more sensible way home, but today she wasn't feeling quite as comfortable in her life as usual.

Still the door wouldn't open, why was everything on earth designed to slow her down today?

"Oh fuck Mondays!" She yelled in exasperation, slamming a hand on the door in a vain attempt to make it spring open.

It screamed in protest at being hit off the wooden door, bringing more shouts as the weather suddenly took another turn for the worse; lightning flashed through the trees, illuminating the door in front of her for a brief moment, the keyhole shining in a sort of mockery. Finally giving up she sat down on the step and settled in to watch the storm for a while, she had always loved watching them, even being in them to some extent, there was something very comforting about the fact that everyone else was inside and she was out, something pleasing. Her keys jingled gently in her lap, as if trying to remind her that she should fit in with everyone else and get inside, picking them up she threw them away in disgust.

The clatter as they hit the pathway never came.

"Now now, no need to get angry at inanimate metal."

It was Eric Lehnsherr. The rain and continually changing shadows made it difficult to make out his face, but Sarah knew it was him. She slowly stood up, not sure where to back off to now that he was holding the keys to her house in his hand, floating in fact, a few centimeters above his leather gloved fingers.

"I'm guessing this has nothing to do with the late fines." She muttered, desperately trying to think of something to do or say that might explain why a previously normal, mild mannered man was suddenly in her front pathway levitating her house keys in the pouring rain.

"I'll explain later. For now we don't have much time," suddenly he strode forwards, leaving the keys hanging in front of her eyes as he continued past to the door which sprung open as he reached it. He turned in the doorframe to face the drenched woman, "for goodness sake girl, get inside and stop trying to think of something rational to explain this."

Dumbly she obeyed him, only taking a second to snatch the keys from the air before heading inside. -_Mutant_- the word popped into her head with the next clap of thunder. Recovering her wits she turned on the hall light and looked at Lehnsherr.

"You're Magneto aren't you?"

"Well that took you long enough, now hurry up and get some of your things, we leave in five minutes"

"Leave? Where are you taki-

"Up the stairs now! Clothes, photographs whatever you don't want to leave behind, now go!"

Well she had finally figured out who he was, at least partially. Magneto made his way through the bottom floor of the house and into the garage, clicking locks as he went. "Not a motorbike" he sighed, "I hate these damn things". Reluctantly he opened the door of the garage and went back inside where a voice was shouting down to him.

"You wrecked Golden Gate Bridge didn't you? You and you're Brotherhood or whatever you called yourselves!"

"No that was me alone. What of it? Three minutes."

"What of it?!"

Some doors and drawers clattered overhead, she was probably trying to find something to fend him off with, whilst distracting him with conversation. That was never going to work. A bag fell to the bottom of the stairs, evidently full of clothes as it made little sound, surely that wasn't it, trying to knock him out with a well timed bag of garments...

"Two minutes!"

Feet finally followed the bag as Sarah darted down the stairs, surprisingly unarmed and looking rather happy with herself, another bag slung haphazardly over her shoulder.

"I saw it on the web, you had every right to go after that cure and destroy it, besides it looked so damn cool"

Magneto's expression lifted slightly, even if it was only his eyebrows. Grabbing the other bag Sarah stood expectantly at the bottom of the stairs. He gestured towards the garage, "best get on your bicycle" he sneered, "time to say goodbye to being a librarian."

As Sarah straddled the bike Magneto joined her in the garage. Half heartedly she thought about offering him the other helmet but decided against it. As she turned to face him he swept onto the bike.

'Just one question.'

'Make it quick.'

'What on earth do you want a librarian for anyway?'


	3. Remains and Reminders

Professor Charles Xavier had made his way to the park where Storm and Wolverine had been waiting for him; the newly begun rain was the least of his worries as Wolverine appeared in front of him, Storm not far behind.

'We must hurry, I suspect Magneto has finally made contact with her, he caught me off guard.'

Storm caught up with Wolverine, 'What do you mean he caught us off guard?', she said, 'We've been watching her for weeks now.'

Wolverine grimaced and opened his mouth to pass comment, but the Professor shoved the science journals in his hands before he could make so much as a syllable.

'Put those in the van Logan, and stay inside it, Storm we're going to need a bit more severe weather.'

Storm hurriedly entered the van, and started to get into the driving seat, 'My turn Storm, you're on weather duty remember?' Logan muttered as he brushed past her, sitting himself down with an expectant look back to the Professor.

'Magneto approached her in person, it seems he has also been watching her, he may already be at her home.'

'So he's back.' Storm said, glancing back at Wolverine.

A nod of the Professor's head sent Wolverine's foot onto the accelerator, and Storm stumbling backwards. She regained her balance as darker clouds filled the already ominous sky, a stark opposite to the white of her eyes as the rain pounded more heavily on the roof of the now moving vehicle.

'Now would be a good time to give me directions Professor!' Wolverine shouted over the rain and incoming thunder.

An arduous twenty minutes later a grey van pulled up outside 14 Springhill Lane, and two people dressed in black ran towards the house.

'Logan come back! The Professor said we were too late!' , Storm had desperately followed her team-mate out of the van, Logan had been out of it before it had fully come to a halt, sprinting towards the small house.

As he reached the door his claws emerged, spearing the lock and tearing the door open in fury, he tore through the house, finally coming to a halt in the garage. Storm had gently followed on behind him, noting the calendar on the wall with some apprehension of what was to come.

A crash helmet hung on a hook, stealing a motorbike, Scott shouting, the Professor - Jean. Logan fell to his knees, forcing his claws into the concrete floor below him. Quiet footsteps came behind him as Storm entered, her face more understanding than anxious now that she had seen the calendar on the wall. It had been one year to the day since Magento's attack on Alcatraz, one year since Jean had died in Logan's arms.

Suddenly the Professor's voice in his head, telling him to calm down, to gather himself and concentrate on the present, not to dwell on the past.

'But you came back! You returned! How can I forget Jean when you sit there reminding me, every day!'

'Logan please-'

Logan looked up from the floor, his eyes glinting at Storm in the darkness of the garage, 'The Professor came back, Rogue is gone, Magneto's returned, Jean is gone,' Logan murmured, slowly standing up to face Storm, 'you tell me why I should even exist Storm. Give me a purpose!,' he took a step forward towards Storm, who defiantly stood her ground, 'Everything we do ends in failure, everyone we try and help ends up dead or lost, everyone I-'

'Everyone you what, Logan? Everyone you care about? Everyone you love? Do you know how much it hurt me to lose Jean, and Scott? When Rogue ran away I lost a friend too Logan! And you know what I'm thankful for?' Storm locked her gaze to Logan's, 'I'm thankful that I still have you.'


	4. Crossroads

The rain had quite suddenly stopped. After a quarter of an hour in the pouring rain it felt strange to Sarah not to have it lashing her face as they went. Magneto had merely laughed at her question, and sent them both hurtling out onto the road, he had let the baffled woman control the bike for the most part, only taking over to direct them deep into the forest that lay just outside of the city. Talking had been impossible thanks to the rain, so Sarah had had to keep all of the many questions in her head to herself.

Silence had engulfed Storm and Wolverine as they returned to the waiting Professor, who said nothing as they entered the van. Logan had been the first to break the silence, 'We go after her, we save her, then let her go, hide her, just don't let her stay.'

Storm nodded mutely, she had forgotten herself in the garage, never had she meant to say anything like that to Logan, but the anger and frustration had found their escape, and now she was going to have to live with what she had said. She had, after all, meant it. The Professor chose not to comment, both Wolverine and Storm needed time to calm down.

The hushed silence fell once more as the Professor closed his eyes. Headlamps flashed before his eyes, gloved hands gripping the motorbike in front of him, Magneto sat behind him. Suddenly trees, barely registering the flecks of darkened green became thicker as they entered a forest.

'Magneto's taken her into the forest nearby; he'll have something waiting for him no doubt to whisk them out.'

Suddenly the trees stopped moving in an incomprehensible blur and Sarah felt her feet hit the ground below her, steadying herself automatically after having come to a halt so suddenly. Magneto landed lightly behind her as the bike was levitated into the air, coming to rest on the back of a large pick up truck parked just ahead. The door of the vehicle opened, and a young man ran over towards Magneto.

'Everything ready I assume.' Magento asked, again not seeming to be fully concentrating on either Sarah or the young man in front of him, who spoke up, 'Yeah, everything's ready,' he turned to face the newcomer, 'You Sarah?'

_No I'm just a random Magneto decided to pick up off the street_, she thought, but nodded her head in reply nonetheless, clambering down from her bike, and then the truck, she managed to not quite slip as she jumped back to the ground. As her boots hit dirt Magneto came back to reality, 'Sarah get you and your bags in the truck right now. Don't try and get out. Pyro, it feels like we may have company.'

The first stab of fear ran through Sarah's mind, the speed at which everything had been happening had kept her feeling safe, the familiarity of the bike underneath her now gone, she was left alone with two people who had essentially captured her and taken her from her normal life - no matter how boring it may have been, it was still her life.

Magneto's voice thundered into her head, 'Now!'

The door sprang open once more and one of Sarah's bags was torn from her shoulder and dropped in the cab. Pyro turned towards her, in his raised hand a ball of fire.

'Alright, I'm going.' _That guy looked too smug for his own good_.

The cab was surprisingly large and comfortable; Sarah dropped the remaining bag on the floor and turned round to see what was going on.

The fireball in Pyro's hand had grown, he had moved to stand at Magneto's side, and both looked ready to spring into action at the snap of a twig.

'Is it the X-men?' Pyro muttered, glancing into the forest.

'Yes. They made the mistake of bringing their adamantium with them, now put out that flame, no need to let them know our **exact **whereabouts.'

Magneto couldn't help but be amused at the youngster's shift in attitude at the arrival of a woman. He highly doubted that Pyro would have said a word had it been a burly young man, let alone attempted to threaten them. Not that Sarah had been bothered, the look on her face had made it more than clear what she thought of Pyro. Magneto laughed to himself, the pair would doubtlessly provide a great amount of entertainment, especially when Sarah found her own methods of quenching Pyro's flames.

'Stop here, they are waiting not far ahead, it seems he doesn't wish to run.'

Storm and Wolverine left the Professor in the van and made their way through the dense trees. Wolverine immediately found the trail and disappeared into the darkness. Storm sighed and continued onwards, seeing a flicker far ahead in the trees she raised herself into the sky to bring herself closer to their target.

Wolverine felt at home in the trees, he knew splitting off from Storm without a word was stupid, but she would just hold him back. They had to get in and out quickly; god knows what Magneto was capable of. He should have lost his powers permanently, but with the recovery of Rogue Logan had suspected that Magneto might soon be back to his old tricks. Evidently he had been right, that_ was happening way too much lately_.


	5. Earth, Wind and Fire

There they were, _Magento and his little sidekick Pyro_, standing in front of a pick up truck that was practically invisible in the dark, Wolverine had managed to scout round in a circle and come out far behind them. Movement drew Wolverine's attention, Storm was concealing herself in the sky not to far off, she was trying to get the girl without revealing themselves. Wolverine had no doubt Magneto knew she was there, and as for himself, well the old man scarcely missed a trick.

Sarah suddenly realised she had been holding her breath and slowly let it out, relaxing in the seat a little. Magneto and Pyro had been standing perfectly still for a good few minutes now and nothing had happened. She had thought about running, it was becoming more and more appealing with every second that passed. She knew the forest pretty well, Magneto and Pyro probably didn't, then again, it was a probably. It was dark, it would be easy to slip away, and Magneto wouldn't be able to stick any metal barriers in her way in a forest, Pyro similarly couldn't do much without setting the whole place on fire. Bad spot to pick really, keeping her eyes focused on Magneto and Pyro she reached for the bags on the floor.

'Sorry jewelry, you'll have to stay in case old Mr. Magnet gets you.' It hurt her to leave these things behind, some of the pieces had belonged to family, and others were just very beautiful and had been bought when Sarah had been much younger. Suddenly the thunder began again and the forest ceiling clouded over.

A shout went out, and a ball of flame flew into the air.

On Storm's first bolt, Logan had begun to run, coming at the van from behind. His legs pounded in rhythm with his heart, he had no idea what he was going to do, if Magneto so much as flicked his wrist he was done for, and the chances of Storm managing to distract him were slim to none. He needed a miracle to survive this, but that perhaps, he told himself, was why he was running.

Magneto tore a side panel from the truck and flung it at Storm, who swiftly dodged it and another blast from Pyro. Another piece of metal found its way to Magneto from the truck; time seemed to slow down as Pyro watched a bolt of lightning miraculously strike the metal and send Magneto flying to the ground. Pyro immediately sent an onslaught of flames into the trees, Magneto's warning echoing in his mind, 'If anything happens, the place goes up in smoke and we get out, do not fight them yourself.'

Knowing full well that Storm wasn't alone, Pyro was sticking to his mentor's advice, she was one thing but Wolverine. Well that was something he didn't want to get into.

Seeing Magneto fall Sarah jumped from the truck and sprinted away into the darkness. She felt her legs quickly tiring, but fear kept her running regardless of her body. Branches lashed out, cutting through Sarah's shirt and flesh, stinging at her legs, tearing at her face.

Putting her hands up to her face Sarah crashed through a knot of branches, straight into Wolverine. Pain smashed through her as a gasp escaped from her mouth.

Pyro spun round; the woman had run from the truck. Storm hit the ground running as Pyro took off for the forest; Pyro felt his feet lift from the ground as he was pulled skyward. Thrashing in the air he sent flame behind him, forcing Storm to release him from the tornado as she defended herself from the fireball. In the forest Wolverine had risen immediately and looked to the crumpled woman lying at his feet. Crouching down he lifted her top half, she was still breathing. Running into him head on must have hurt like hell, not to mention the claws- shit, had he hurt her? He smelt it before he saw it, the blood trickling from a gash in her side. Cursing himself he put pressure on the wound, it wasn't to deep, but it would probably scar badly. Another smell suddenly pushed in on him, the whole forest was going up in flames! Acrid smoke filled his nostrils, quickly he grabbed the woman and ran into the clearing where Magneto's truck was.

Pyro ground to a halt when he saw Wolverine. The instantaneous bravado that had convinced him he could attack him and win vanished when he saw the dirt covered face before him, Sarah's body draped over his arms. His hesitation cost him, as Storm quickly hit him from behind with a branch, knocking him to the ground.

'Can you not do something about these trees storm?' Wolverine yelled over the flames, 'They'll start collapsing if we're here too long.' Rushing over to the truck he bundled the woman inside the cab and swung himself into the drivers seat as the rain once more began to hammer down.

'Storm!'

She was gone.

'Shit, she'll have gone back to the Professor. Looks like it's just me and you for now.'

The truck roared as Wolverine started the engine, glancing in the back of the truck he spotted a gleaming motorbike. The chain of memories flooded through his head again; casting them aside he jammed his foot on the accelerator and took off.

Kicking herself for being so stupid as to pay Wolverine back for abandoning her Storm had slowly made her way back to the Professor, reassured a little when she heard the truck behind her roar into life. She sat down, gasping for breath as the Professor questioned her. 'Sarah's ok, Logan has her. Magneto and Pyro were waiting for us; they're both knocked out in the forest. The flames shouldn't get to them before they wake up.'

'Indeed they shouldn't.', came a cool voice.

Magneto and Pyro were suddenly in the back of the van with them. 'Good evening Charles.'

The Professor inclined his head slightly at his old friend, 'Eric.'


	6. The Usual Routine?

A gentle voice woke her, 'nice to see you're finally with us.' Sarah sat up, wincing at the pain in her side. The thought ran through her mind before she could stop it, Well_ that's interesting, a blue man. _

Hank was both impressed and slightly surprised, usually upon seeing him in person for the first time people tried to hide their reaction in some way, usually by looking away from his face or glancing at their watch - even if they had done so just seconds before laying eyes on him. Not so this woman. The Professor had spoken to him several times about her before putting his plan into action. She seemed to know little of the mutant community, only that it existed and played home to Magneto: who had a knack of making himself stand out from the crowd.

After the Alcatraz incident Hank had left behind all ties with the American Government, and shortly afterwards they had tried to cover up the whole Worthington mess. They had succeeded to the extent that the majority of the public and the international community had little idea of what actually happened that night, mostly because they knew so little themselves. It had been declared that Alcatraz had been victim to a terrorist attack, and, rather conveniently, all the perpetrators had perished in the attack. Of course the sudden movement of Golden Gate Bridge had been a difficult one to explain, so the government had eventually 'admitted', to having found the body of the notoriously dangerous, anti-homo-sapien , very powerful, previously incarcerated, Magneto. All nonsense of course, but luckily few had noticed.

Sarah Monaghan had been one of a few British citizens who had stumbled upon a forum post on a well known website, from a user claiming to be Magneto's right hand man, declaring to the world (albeit from a very small stage) that Magneto was in fact alive and well. The post had disappeared minutes after it appeared, and only those who had clicked on the link in the small amount of time it existed saw the message. One of the students in the mansion had come across the same website some time later to find an enormous thread discussing the Golden Gate Bridge incident, with one username in particular cropping up in the partial defense of Magneto - Ultraviolet. The Professor had eventually discovered Ultraviolet to in fact be a librarian from the United Kingdom. Why Charles was so keen not only to contact her but bring her safely to the mansion was the current unsolvable mystery. As far as Hank could see she had no mutation, although blood tests had revealed a considerable amount of the X-gene present in her DNA. If she had been in her teens or perhaps even early twenties Hank would have had the basis for the Professor's reasoning; however the woman in front of him looked to be in her early to mid thirties.

Hank's expression never faltered as he walked over to the head of his patient, calmly inspecting various cuts all over her torso.

'I'm Hank McCoy; I've been looking after you for the last couple of hours. You were very lucky you weren't worse off after running into Wolverine you know.'

'Worse off?' she replied, 'there's pain in too many places to count.'

'Yes well, you did run into a highly accelerated wall of adamantium and muscle. Then there was the claw damage of course.'

'Claw damage?'

_The blue guy - Hank-_ gave her a small reassuring smile,

'That's what the stitches in your side are for. Various other bruises and cuts of course, and I'm rather surprised you haven't noticed your hand yet.'

She sat up with Hank's help and swung her legs over the side of the trolley she had been lying on. Sarah groaned a little after trying to mover her right arm, it was extremely stiff, not to mention painful in a numb sort of way.

'Your hand was essentially crushed I'm afraid. It seems you landed on it when you fell, broke a few very tiny bones. Your side was particularly badly cut, and it's taken a long time for it to begin healing because of the severity of it. Otherwise you are doing very well; just don't be too vigorous with your wrist for a while.'

A comfortable silence fell as Hank completed his examination, shining a light in her eyes he suddenly remembered what he had been meaning to ask her. Questioning proved his earlier guess about her age pretty accurate, 'I'm thirty-two, and yourself?'

He had smiled at her question, she certainly wasn't one to hide behind the usual social delicacies. Very straight talking.

'If you don't mind, I'm rather private about personal details and strangers.' He mused, giving the answer he had expected from her.

'Ah, I thought you would be,' she fired back. This was all very interesting to Hank, he was sure he had held this sort of conversation before, though it was proving hard to remember when or where. He held out his left hand for her to shake and introduced himself properly, 'Dr Hank McCoy, Xavier institute and school for the gifted.'

Sarah raised her eyebrows slightly as she grasped his hand and the door to the lab slid open, 'Institute makes it sounds like an asylum.'

Hank laughed as Wolverine entered, looking distinctly grim. Sarah spoke up once more, 'and don't get me started on the school for the gifted part.'

Hank's smile vanished as Wolverine glowered at him and Sarah, ''Some people might not find that so funny'. He ignored Sarah's presence completely and continued talking to Hank, 'There's a kid upstairs who wants some help.'

'Logan, I do remember asking you to take care of any of the students requests while I was down here.'

Sarah sat in silence, desperately unsure of how to react, uncertain whether to interrupt would result in making the situation worse. Before she had a chance to speak out as she wanted to Wolverine - Logan as it turned out - raised his voice again.

'Fine. If you want me to tell the kid that the pain he feels now will do nothing but increase, I best get to it straight away.'

In the moment that Logan's eyes met hers as he swept past Sarah realised who the man was.

Brown eyes. They were what had helped her recognise the man she had quite literally run into in the forest. Logan seemed to sense her gaze and stopped, allowing just two words to finally show he recognised her existence, "You're up."

'I hadn't noticed.' she replied, quickly getting up and overtaking Wolverine going out of the lab. Sarah heard him unsheathe his claws, but kept walking at the same pace.

Hank's voice suddenly echoed through the corridor as though nothing potentially explosive was going on, 'Sarah needs a room, and some clothes. I suggest you help her whilst I'm gone. Sarah, I'll come and find you as soon as I can.'

Ignoring Hank's words Sarah paid more attention to the steady footsteps that began to follow her own down the corridor- she kept walking, down the long passageway, taking a left, _keep going, never mind the pain, just get out_.

'Hey!'

A dead end.


End file.
